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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28323315">Stocking Stuffers</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bayliwick/pseuds/Bayliwick'>Bayliwick</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bucky Barnes &amp; Steve Rogers Friendship, Christmas Fluff, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Romanoger kids, romanogers - Freeform</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 17:14:38</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,741</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28323315</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bayliwick/pseuds/Bayliwick</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Christmas morning at the Rogers household goes a little awry.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>James "Bucky" Barnes/Wanda Maximoff, Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanov</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>77</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Stocking Stuffers</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Merry Christmas!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Loud whispers and giggling woke Steve up. Feigning sleep, he tried to hide his smile as he listened to his wife and daughters try to stay quiet. </p><p> </p><p>"Shh, you guys don't want to wake up Daddy do you?"</p><p> </p><p>Alaina giggled while Maggie replied, "No, Mommy!" </p><p> </p><p>Steve could picture Natasha's smirking at their daughters and their disastrous attempts at being quiet. At the ages of two and four, it was a hard concept for the girls to grasp, but Steve appreciated their attempts nonetheless. </p><p> </p><p>He felt the bed shift as Natasha got out of it and heard her urging the girls out of the master bedroom. As the sound of little footsteps faded, Steve felt his wife lay her head across his chest. "You can open your eyes now." She smiled up at him once he did. </p><p> </p><p>"Good morning," he leaned down to peck her lips. </p><p> </p><p>His wife scrunched her face at the contact and turned away. "Ew, morning breath." She moved to get out of his grasp, but Steve held her tight. </p><p> </p><p>"I'll show you morning breath," he teased. He pulled Natasha in for a much longer kiss this time. After he pulled away, he smirked at the dazed look on his wife's face. "How's my morning breath now?" </p><p> </p><p>"Mhm, just do it again," Natasha murmured as she pulled on the back of his neck again. "Merry Christmas, honey." </p><p> </p><p>"Merry Christmas, Nat." Steve smiled. "How impatient are the kids?" </p><p> </p><p>"Super impatient," Natasha replied. Her face melted into one of adoration as she thought of her children. "You heard how excited the girls were, but I haven't heard from James yet." </p><p> </p><p>Steve frowned. "That's odd. He usually wakes me up by jumping on my stomach every Christmas."</p><p> </p><p>"Better you than me." His wife laughed as she began to pull on her snowman socks.</p><p> </p><p>"It means he loves me more."</p><p> </p><p>"No, it means that he's too scared to jump on me." </p><p> </p><p>"Oh, and are you saying that it's better to be feared than loved by our kids?" </p><p> </p><p>"No," Natasha hummed as she combed her knotted hair with one hand. "That's what you're saying. I just make sure that my kids know that <em> you're </em> the one to jump on, not me." </p><p> </p><p>Steve paused from pulling on his shirt to gape at his wife. "You've been sicking the kids on me?" </p><p> </p><p>She gave him a mischievous smile. "Your words, not mine." She finished securing her robe before heading towards their bedroom door. "Oh, and I promised the girls I'd get you to start breakfast for them. They want reindeer-shaped pancakes." </p><p> </p><p>Steve groaned. His daughters loved the fact that their dad was an artist, but his skill was in drawing, not shaping pancake batter on a hot skillet. His pancakes always turned out like misshapen blobs and he would have to listen to his daughters teasing him about it. Not that Natasha was helping by encouraging it whenever she got a chance. </p><p> </p><p>Shaking his head, Steve finished getting ready before heading downstairs into the holiday chaos his family was stirring up. The savory scent of coffee hit his nose as he descended the stairs. After pouring a cup, Steve stepped into the living room where Natasha was seated on the couch while Bucky and Wanda were playing with the girls. Wanda was holding Alaina in her lap while Bucky was letting Maggie crawl all over him. </p><p> </p><p>"Piggy ride, Uncle Bucky!" Maggie pleaded with her uncle until Bucky relented. Wanda smiled as her boyfriend ran around the room with a giggling four-year-old attached to his back. While watching their daughters play with their friends, Natasha took the opportunity to curl up into Steve's side as they both sipped their coffee. </p><p> </p><p>The mountain of presents still sat underneath the tree untouched, which was when Steve noticed that one member of their family was missing. "Where's James?" He whispered to Natasha. She glanced around and shrugged her shoulders. </p><p> </p><p>Worry etched itself on her face as she checked the time. It was nearly eight in the morning. "You don't think he's sick do you?" It was odd that their son hadn't tried to tear into his presents yet, he was usually the first of their children to try. </p><p> </p><p>"Let me go check," Steve said. </p><p> </p><p>The door to James's room was shut tight and the lights were off when Steve opened the door. He thought that his son was still asleep for a moment until he saw James's blue eyes reflected in the light streaming through from the hallway.</p><p> </p><p>"Daddy!" James exclaimed, "Go away!"</p><p> </p><p>Steve's worry from earlier intensified. "James, what's wrong?" </p><p> </p><p>"Go away!" James pulled the covers over his head. "You need to go back to bed or else Santa's not gonna come!" </p><p> </p><p>Steve sat on the edge of his son's bed and gently tugged the blankets down so he could see James's face. "What makes you think Santa hasn't already come?" The pile of presents in the living room downstairs that Steve had placed there last night told a different story than what James believed.</p><p> </p><p>Eyes wide, James pointed at the foot of his bed. On the bedpost hung a small Ironman stocking that Tony had gotten James a few years back. At the sight of it, Steve felt his face loose all it's color. </p><p> </p><p>"Santa hasn't filled my stocking yet, Dad." James's bottom lip was wobbly and tears were building up in his eyes. "You don't think he skipped me, do you?" </p><p> </p><p>Guilt flooded Steve. He'd forgotten to put a small present in James's stocking and inadvertently caused this mess. Natasha was going to smack him when she heard about this. Scrambling to figure out how to fix this mess, a knock on the door interrupted him. </p><p> </p><p>Natasha stood at the door with her back to the light so Steve couldn't make out her facial expression, although he was sure it was worried. "Jamie, are you feeling okay?" </p><p> </p><p>"Mama!" James cried as his mom hurriedly swept him up in her arms. "Santa hasn't come yet!" </p><p> </p><p>"What do you mean, baby?" Natasha wiped the tears away from James's cheeks as they fell. She glanced at Steve, who watched helplessly as his son cried about being put on the naughty list and getting coal for Christmas.</p><p> </p><p><em> What happened? </em> Natasha mouthed at her husband. Steve held up the empty Ironman stocking, and Natasha deduced quickly what had happened. Shrinking away from the glare Natasha sent his way, Steve slipped out of the bedroom without James noticing. He quickly made his way downstairs to find something small to sneak into the stocking. It was probably going to be the only thing that would calm his son down. </p><p> </p><p>He found Bucky grabbing some tea in the kitchen. His best friend studied Steve for a moment. "What's up with the little punk? Is everything okay?"</p><p> </p><p>Steve rubbed his eyes. "I forgot to put a present in James's stocking and now he thinks Santa didn't bring him any presents. Nat's trying to calm him down."</p><p> </p><p>Bucky guffawed, "You did what?!"</p><p> </p><p>"Don't start on me." Steve took a deep breath. "I'm already in the doghouse with Nat for causing my son to have a meltdown."</p><p> </p><p>"I don't envy you there." His best friend said, "You married a real piece of work there." </p><p> </p><p>"Watch what you say or else I'm not gonna stop her from beating you up." Steve glared at Bucky.</p><p> </p><p>The former assassin nodded. "Fine. How are you doing to fix the mess you caused?" </p><p> </p><p>"By sneaking a present into his stocking. Do you have any ideas?"</p><p> </p><p>Bucky thought for a moment before his face lit up and snapped his fingers. "I think so."</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Steve found James still clinging to Natasha when he entered his son's room again, the small present hidden behind his back. Natasha tracked her husband's movements, keeping James facing away as Steve carefully snuck the present into the stocking without James seeing it. Once the present was safely stored in the stocking, Steve gave his wife a thumbs up. </p><p> </p><p>Natasha rolled her eyes, but lifted James's face up to hers. "Jamie baby, maybe you should try looking in the stocking again. Perhaps you missed the present?" </p><p> </p><p>James shook his head as he burrowed his face back into his mom's shirt. "No I didn't, Mama! I <em> know </em> there was nothing in there. I triple-checked just like you always tell me to do."</p><p> </p><p>Natasha sent another scowl at Steve before grabbing the stocking. "Really, I think there's something in here. It feels quite heavy." </p><p> </p><p>James perked up when he spotted the noticeable lump in the stocking. Grabbing for it, he pulled out a small wrapped box with a label that said: "From Santa". Natasha and Steve smiled as their son's face lit up as she unwrapped the box to see a Winter Soldier figurine. </p><p> </p><p>"It's Uncle Bucky!" James showed his dad and mom excitedly, "Santa knew I wanted this toy! He didn't forget me!"</p><p> </p><p>"Of course he didn't, kiddo." Steve ruffled his son's hair. </p><p> </p><p>James beamed up at his dad, his blue eyes twinkling with excitement. He clutched his new toy to his chest as he asked, "Can we go open the rest of the presents now?" </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>The rest of the morning went by in a whirlwind of strewn wrapping paper and delighted children who were extra happy about their gifts. After stuffing a second trash bag full of tape and paper, Steve found Natasha in a quiet corner. Coming up behind her, he pulled his wife against his chest and kissed her hair. </p><p> </p><p>The couple watched the three children play with their toys. "We're lucky our friends love our kids so much to put up with this craziness." Natasha commented. Bucky was holding Alaina on his hip while reading her a new book and Wanda helped Maggie and Jame set up their newest duplex lego set. It was tradition for both Avengers to spend Christmas at the Rogers household ever since James had been born and both Natasha and Steve enjoyed having their friends over. The kids loved being able to have their favorite aunt and uncle over every year too.</p><p> </p><p>"I'm lucky that I have you," Steve whispered into her ear. Natasha smiled as she turned in his embrace to kiss him.  “Merry Christmas, Nat." </p><p> </p><p>"Merry Christmas, Steve." Natasha cupped his cheek, her wedding ring glinting in the light. "Just please don't forget to stuff <em>all</em> of the stockings next year."</p><p> </p><p>Steve groaned. He was never going to live this down.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hahaha this actually is based on a true story. My dad forgot to do this when I was young and I had a very similar reaction to James. I hope you enjoyed :)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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